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Feminist Scholar Opposed to Prenatal Testing

When asked what was so troubling about routine first-trimester prenatal diagnosis, Marsha Saxton, a lecturer for University of California, Berkeley and contributer to the feminist health book Our Bodies, Ourselves said, “Unfortunately, it buys into a consumer perspective on our children.”

In this interview with California Catholic Daily she talks about a disabled student in one of her classes whose mother has had several abortions since her birth after prenatal diagnosis confirmed that those siblings would be born with the same condition. And the mother is still trying, after 20 years, to conceive a “normal” child:

Interestingly, when my other students heard the student share her story, there were tears shed by several students in the class. I think they “got it”: that prenatal testing has powerful effects beyond the immediate issues of mother and child.

So, it’s ok for a woman to assert her “right to choose” in some cases, but not in others. If abortion is a “constitutional right”, as pro-choicers claim, shouldn’t it be acceptable for a woman to choose it, whatever the reason? I suppose we should be thankful that some of them can see the need to draw the line somewhere.

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One Comment on “Feminist Scholar Opposed to Prenatal Testing”

Indeed, as pro-lifers, we take whatever bit of humaneness we can get from feminists for choice.

This is an important story. For in the telling, those readers who might not be in tune with the issue of abortion learn about prenatal testing for perfection in children and repeat abortions. Plus, like the feminist lecturer they look into the eyes of the disabled student who might have been aborted and sense heart in those fellow students who shed tears on her behalf.